Carmack-Altwies remains unopposed in district attorney race
Feb. 10—One month ahead of a March filing deadline for the spring primary election, First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies has not yet drawn an opponent in her bid to serve a second term.
She might not be unopposed for long.
Her predecessor, Marco Serna, said last week he's "strongly considering" making a bid for his old job. He has had "hundreds of people" approach him, urging him to run, he said, and "a petition has started to get me on the ballot, which I appreciate."
He stopped short of saying he will campaign for the job, which pays about $156,000 per year.
Serna, who served as district attorney from 2017 to 2020, didn't seek a second term in 2020. He chose instead to run in the Democratic primary for the 3rd Congressional District, a race he lost.
Another potential and previous candidate, attorney Scott Fuqua, said last week he had considered running for the job again but decided to run for an open seat on the Santa Fe County Commission, in part because he didn't feel great about his chances of winning a three-way race against Carmack-Altwies and Serna.
"If the only three people in the race are Marco, Mary and me, my best guess is Marco wins that race," Fuqua said. "Bottom line is, I took a look at it, and if we are the only three candidates, I don't see a very clear path to winning the primary."
The Republican Party hasn't had a candidate in the race since 2016, when Yvonne Chicoine lost to Serna. The party hadn't had a candidate before her since Joe Roberts lost his bid in 1976.
It looks as if Republicans aren't planning to change the status quo during this election cycle — or if they are, they are keeping it to themselves.
"I unfortunately do not have information to give you regarding this race at this time," a spokeswoman for the party said in an email Friday in response to an inquiry from The New Mexican.
Asked Friday why voters should reelect her, Carmack-Altwies said: "I think I've done a really good job and have the best DA staff in the whole state. All we're doing is winning cases left and right."
She pointed to dozens of homicide cases in which her office has secured convictions in the past three years as a measure of her success.
Carmack-Altwies has faced criticism over her "restorative justice" approach to cases against nine defendants accused of helping to topple the Plaza obelisk during an Indigenous Peoples Day protest in 2020. Their cases were adjudicated through a confidential process rather than public hearings and resulted in no jail time.
Asked if she was afraid her handling of the cases would hurt her in the polls, she said no.
"Not at all," she said. "I wouldn't change a decision, and I'm proud of my track record. I treated them the same way I would have treated every other defendant charged with the same crime. I wouldn't make a different decision because it was criticized politically."
The district attorney is the top prosecutor in the First Judicial District, which includes Santa Fe, Los Alamos and Rio Arriba counties, and administers a budget of about $8.8 million. Its staff includes more than 80 employees, according to the New Mexico Sunshine Portal.
